had lunch outside today. bought it from subway cuz i didn't have time to pack one yesterday, but it was alright: a "dijon turkey, ham n bacon melt" w/ cheese. (mmmm...melt...)
however, i was happily enjoying my lunch and minding my own business on the ledge of this outdoor pool in a courtyard overlooking the ocean and Canada Place, when an extremely rude party decided to drop in and started eyeing my sandwich! this individual turned what would have otherwise been an enjoyable lunchtime experience, into a rare moment where i felt truly violated.
this individual had absolutely no respect for one's right to eat and enjoy food privately (even when in public)! no concept of the intimacy that is shared between a man and his meal, no conceivable cognition of the absolute indecency of meal intrusion, and definitely no perception of palatal pleasure whatsoever!!! *whooo...(sorry, still a lil worked up over here)
so neway, i was slightly nervous at first, and i simply tried to ignore them. they lingered for a few minutes and then left...but only to return moments later, with backup. i was surrounded! this whole scene was unravelling with tons of people around (as we were outside), but nobody came to my aid! some people did notice the intrusion, but merely walked away or gave a little smirk and went about their own business again. everyone else just didn't seem to see what i saw: infringement upon my right to the sole ownership and enjoyment of my lunch.
finally, i could not take it any longer. i refused to let the offending party go unnoticed. for a second i questioned what i was about to do, but my decision was firm. so i took a deep breath, put down my sandwich, and i...
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took the lil bastard's picture!
i wasn't the only one who was violated today, although this next incident only involved a cup of coffee (no meat). this gentleman sat down on the ledge a few feet down from me and put his cup of coffee down next to him while he unpacked his lunch. there was a seagull floating in the pool behind us. this lil toddler walkin around w/ his mom decides to chase this seagull. before anyone can move, this lil brat runs up screaming to the ledge, snatches this innocent man's coffee and tosses it in the pool at the bird! now this got people's attention. the mom apologized profusely after calming down her kid, and offered to pay the man back for his coffee. the gentleman politely declined her money although she was truly sincere, but he did set down his lunch and ask her to watch it for him as he went to buy another drink. ok, i was like; "dude...lil freak boy just tossed your coffee, n now ur gonna trust them to watch your lunch? what, ru nuts? what if like, some squirrel came along n the kid freaks n throws your lunch at the fuzzy thing? do u not wanna have lunch today?" u don't trust strangers w/ ur food, u just don't!
in other news: dammit, didn't get the room at wcri! yeesh...these sublets are a friggin hot commodity, next one i see i'd better grab it.
(after hours...)
dropped by fat city, the date is set: september 2, 2004.
S.O.S. : Skittles on Skytrain - Wednesday, July 28 2004
squeezed onto the skytrain this morning around 0810. rush hour volume on public transit is definitely a lot greater than what i remembered it to be. guess it's still not so bad compared to what people tell me about NY subways n bullet trains in tokyo, but it's gettin there i think. today was one of those mornings; u had a like a ton of people waiting on the platform for the next train n when it comes...it's already crammed n you can only squeeze about 2 or 3 people into each doorway. yesterday after work was like this too, i had to let 4 trains pass before i finally got squeezed onto one! at least the trains come pretty frequently, but still yesterday was pretty nuts. this morning wasn't much better, i still had to cram on, but on this particular morning, i met tatiana...
tatiana (sp?) and her friends spilled onto the train at broadway station. i was smooshed up against the glass near a doorway on one of those plastic fold-down seats b/c some turd had decided to hold his skateboard sideways on a crowded train, forcing ppl around him to have to accommodate. (i should've told mr. "skater boi" to use some common sense n hold it vertical, but he was a few feet away, n when the train's crammed like it was this morning a few feet is a little too far for conversation). so neway, back to tatiana...
she was a bronzed beauty-type species, looked to be of some kinda latino/puerto rican/brazilian descent, and her n the rest of the "wildlife" that she was with managed to stumble onto the train all laughing n joking about something or other. the not-so-docile female must've slipped on something b/c she kinda fell forward n would've smacked herself face-first into a pole if she hadn't slowed herself by falling to her knees at my feet....right on top of my backpack.
slightly embarassed, she made a quick apology for my bag and stood herself up. although i was still slightly groggy at this time of day, i still had the presence of mind to give her a quick grin and *gasp* even offered her my seat! at first she hesitated for a moment, but when i started getting up she consented and took her place on the plastic perch, while the rest of her "herd" stood. after this exchange, i observed that the wildlife displayed slight signs of blushing and was trying to make amends by attempting to dust off my bag.
by this time the train was moving again, and one of the "herd" took out a bag of skittles and offered it to tatiana (sp? - she called her by name, that's how i know it. (NO i did not ask for it aka try to pick her up) why she did this? i have no idea, but i do recall from previous observations that members of the same genus of this type of wildlife have shown partiality to foods abundant in sucrose. this tatiana creature accepted the colorful package, opened it and began to partake. she must've noticed my observance of her behaviour, as not even 5 seconds had gone by before she instinctively offered to let me "taste the rainbow" (a smart one this species!). i politely declined as i was already working on my crispy crunch.
however, the fact that this species could clearly see that i was already in the middle of a crispy crunch, yet still had the presence of mind to display the correct behaviour of the offering of the skittle, is impressive. such intelligence is not often found in other members of the genus. this particular species must've been a rare one. alas, by this time my stop (granville) was fast approaching, and the "safari-episode" came to an end...
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!Post-episode observation! : this late finding does not change the observed intelligence level of this species, but it does change the overall impression of the pleasantness of the encounter: when i got into the office and opened my bag to take out my lunch to put into the staffroom fridge, my nectarine was crushed! "tatiana" crushes nectarines! >=[
hmmm...fireworks tonight. haven't gone in years, i rmmbr it used to be such a big thing in highschool...for more reasons than there are now i suppose, but it still is an awesome tourist attraction. i hear china's up tonight, last year's winner. i'm already downtown, so i guess i could just chill here until night time, go walk around for a bit, go for dinner, walk down by the beach, then wait for it to get dark n finish of the night with some awesome fireworks...aah...so this is one of those times that i have to admit having a g/f comes in handy...lol maybe i'll check it out on saturday or next week, try takin some pictures of my own.
homage to the nipple - Thursday, July 29 2004
aaargh...crashed after dinner at 2000 last night intending to wake up at around 2200 n grab a drink before sleeping, but i didn't end up waking up till 0015 so that didn't quite work out. so i woke up, brushed my teeth, n went back to sleep. to make matters worse, i left the window open, n i didn't find out till this morning. i was a mosquito buffet for the whole friggin night!
(later...at work)
walked out onto the Georgia st. overpass today during lunch, and saw that the city has finally decided to pay tribute to the contributions of yours truly by erecting a building to symbolize my presence on the west coast:
...awww...how thoughtful! my mosquito bites don't itch that much anymore.